Press releases - launcher systems
- The triple crown for Astrium:47th launch of Ariane 5 a success with two satellites placed in orbit
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Astrium CEO François Auque congratulated the Astrium teams based in Guiana, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom and thanked them for their excellent work: "This new success confirms once again the excellent design of the Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle."
"This launch perfectly illustrates the wide range of skills that Astrium has to offer and how well our different divisions complement each other. Astrium Space Transportation delivered the Ariane 5 launcher right on time to Arianespace. Astrium Satellites will be delivering the two satellites—the German Armed Forces' first military communications satellite and the new telecommunications satellite of the Spanish operator Hispasat—to their final orbital positions. And when COMSATBw-2 joins COMSATBw-1 in orbit in 2010, Astrium Services, through its subsidiary MilSat Services, will be responsible for operating the German communications satellites for a minimum of ten years. This launch was thus extremely important for all the Astrium teams."
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2008, Astrium had a turnover of €4.3 billion and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment and Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS generated revenues of €43.3 billion and employed a workforce of more than 118, 000.
Press contacts:
Daniel Mosely (Astrium UK) Tel.: +44 (0)1 438 77 8180
Matthieu Duvelleroy (Astrium FR) Tel.: +33 (0) 1 77 75 80 32
Ralph Heinrich (Astrium GER) Tel.: +49 (0) 89 607 33971
Francisco Lechón (Astrium SP) Tel.: +34 91 586 37 41
www.astrium.eads.net
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- Flight 191 - Ariane 5 - Satellites: AMAZONAS-2 & COMSATBw-1
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- Flight 191
- Launch Kit Flight 191
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launch-kit-flight-191
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- Astrium’s 45th Ariane 5 successfully launched
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Astrium CEO François Auque congratulated the Astrium teams based in French Guiana, in France and in Germany, and thanked them “for this latest success, which is further proof of the Ariane 5 ECA’s excellent design. Astrium has pulled off another major feat by placing into orbit the largest commercial telecommunications satellite ever launched”.
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2008, Astrium had a turnover of €4.3 billion and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment and Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS generated revenues of €43.3 billion and employed a workforce of more than 118, 000.
Press contacts:
Daniel Mosely (Astrium UK) Tel.: +44 (0)1 438 77 8180
Matthieu Duvelleroy (Astrium FR) Tel.: +33 (0) 1 77 75 80 32
Ralph Heinrich (Astrium GER) Tel.: +49 (0) 89 607 33971
Francisco Lechón (Astrium SP) Tel.: +34 91 586 37 41
www.astrium.eads.net
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- Flight 189: Ariane 5 – Satellite: TERRESTAR-1
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- Flight 189
- Launch Kit Flight 189 (pdf)
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launch-kit-flight-189-pdf
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1.2 MB
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- To launch the Jules Verne ATV, Ariane 5 ES will ignite three times
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Astrium has now spent more than three years preparing Ariane 5 for the ATV launch to the International Space Station. In contrast with a “standard” geostationary satellites launch mission, Ariane will be required to place the 19.5 tonnes of the Jules Verne module into a circular, as opposed to elliptical, transfer orbit. To achieve this, the Aestus engine of the EPS upper stage, which normally burns for only one powered flight phase, will be ignited three times.
- Firstly, for an eight-minute burn to place the stage and its precious cargo into an initial, elliptical orbit (perigee 130 km, apogee 260 km)
- Forty-five minutes later, the second burn, lasting about 30 seconds, will circularise the EPS orbit at an altitude of 260 km and separate the ATV
- The third burn, occurring ninety minutes later, will serve to ensure that the EPS drops safely back into the Pacific Ocean
The launcher preparation programme has not only involved validating the ability of the Aestus engine and EPS stage to carry out a totally new mission (nearly 200 ignition sequences were executed at Lampoldshausen under hot conditions over a broad temperature domain to ground qualify the Aestus engine), but has also led to development of a dedicated VEB, development of totally dedicated software and an exhaustive campaign to confirm the capability of the lower stages to carry an exceptional load in flight. It should be noted that, while lift-off mass of the payloads normally carried by Ariane is of the order of 8 to 10 tonnes, the ATV mission requires the launcher to place 20 tonnes into orbit!
Successful re-ignition of the Aestus engine was operated for the first time under actual flight conditions representative of the ATV mission during the Ariane 5 flight of October 5, 2007.
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2006, Astrium had a turnover of €3.2 billion and 12,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, and Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment, and its wholly owned subsidiary Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2006, EADS generated revenues of €39.4 billion and employed a workforce of more than 116, 000.
Media Contacts:
Rémi Roland (Astrium FR) Phone: +33 (0) 1 77 75 80 37
Jeremy Close (Astrium UK) Phone: +44 (0)1 438 77 3872
Mathias Pikelj (Astrium GER) Phone: +49 (0) 7545 8 91 23
Francisco Lechon (Astrium ESP) Phone: +34 (0) 91 586 37 41
- Astrium wins study for new Vega upper stage
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- Astrium to study new concepts for Vega rocket upper stage
- DLR contract opens up new potential for Astrium’s Bremen site
Bremen, 23 July 2007 – Astrium has won a contract from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne to investigate concepts for a new upper stage for the European launcher Vega. The project is named “Venus” (Vega New Upper Stage). Currently under development, Vega is a small European launch vehicle which is scheduled for first launch in 2009. The study now awarded to Astrium is worth roughly half a million euros and will run for a period of 18 months.
“This study holds tremendous potential for Astrium in Bremen. It could lead to us developing and building the upper stages of every future European launcher. We will be using our extensive expertise built up on Ariane as we progress the study – which should establish our reputation as the specialist for upper stages in Germany and across Europe,” said Günter Stamerjohanns, Astrium’s head of launcher systems in Germany at the contract signing in Bremen. The upper stage currently envisaged for Vega, which is designed to carry payloads of up to 1.5 metric tons, will have a Russian/Ukrainian propulsion system.
“Germany supports independent European access to space. This independent access is becoming increasingly important with respect to small launch vehicles, given the declining availability and rising launch prices for converted Russian ex-military launchers,” explained Dr Claus Lippert, head of space transportation at the DLR.
The Vega rocket is being developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) under contract to the European Space Agency ESA. Germany has not participated in the programme so far. However, if the expected increase in transport requirements for European miniature satellites and the greater risk due to Europe’s dependency on Russian launch services should lead to a decision to place more emphasis on ‘Europeanising’ Vega and enhancing its performance, it could become necessary for Germany to participate in the programme as a specialist for upper stages. Dr Lippert continued: “In preparation for a possible decision of this nature, we tasked Astrium with investigating various technical concepts under the Venus project.” A decision as to whether or not Germany should participate in any further development of Vega, and in what form, could then be made in 2008 on the basis of these findings. The area is being investigated in close consultation with ESA and ASI, and is likely to feature on the agenda of the ESA countries’ next ministerial conference at the end of 2008, according to Dr Lippert.
About Astrium
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2006, EADS Astrium had a turnover of €3.2 billion and 12,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are: the business units Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, and Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment, and its wholly owned subsidiary Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2006, EADS generated revenues of €39.4 billion and employed a workforce of more than 116,000.
Press contacts:
Rémi Roland, Astrium (FR) +33 (0)1 77 75 80 37
Jeremy Close, Astrium (UK) +44 (0)1438 773872
Siegfried Monser, Astrium (GER) +49 (0) 421 539 5815
- Common declaration of Arianespace and Astrium Space Transportation on Ariane 5 production
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Bremen, February 15, 2007: Arianespace and Astrium Space Transportation have decided to increase the Ariane 5 production rate. The launchers will be produced in the most powerful version, Ariane 5 ECA, in a stabilized configuration that will guarantee both reliability and economies of scale. By increasing the production rate, Arianespace will be able to keep pace with growing demand in the launch services market, on which Arianespace holds a leading role with a market share of more than 50%.
The agreement signed between Arianespace and Astrium Space Transportation puts in place the investments needed to supply seven Ariane 5 ECA launchers per year, from February 2008, along with the possibility to yearly perform an additional launch in a specific version, for instance to launch the ATV.
Astrium Space Transportation is the prime contractor in charge of manufacturing Ariane, and leads the launcher manufacturing activities of the various European industrial companies.
Arianespace is in charge of the marketing and launch operations of Ariane, procuring the integrated launcher from Astrium ST, adapting it to each customer’s mission, integrating the satellites on the launcher and carrying out launch operations from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chief Executive Officer, Arianespace
Evert Dudok, President, Astrium Space Transportation
- Diamant
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In 1961, France took the decision to develop a civilian launch vehicle, using as a basis systems and stages from a series of strategic rockets known as the ‘precious stones’ (since the five test vehicles were all named after jewels – the French for agate, topaz, emerald, ruby and sapphire). This task was one of the primary objectives of the newly-created French national space agency CNES, which provided the funding and selected the company SEREB (Société pour l’Etude et la Réalisation d’Engins Balistiques) as prime contractor for the programme in May 1962. It was quickly done: three and a half years later the first French launch vehicle, Diamant (‘diamond’) A took off from the base at Hammaguir in Algeria on 26 December 1965 and successfully placed in orbit the first French satellite, a technology capsule called Astérix. Now with its own proven satellite launch capability, France took its place as the third-ranking space nation in the world.
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The Diamant launchers were three-stage launchers, the lower two stages taken from the precious stones vehicles, and the third specially designed and built for the new launcher.
Three further Diamant A launches, on 17 February 1966, 8 February 1967 and 15 February 1967, orbited three geodetic satellites fro the D-1 programme. All four Diamant A launches being classed as test flights, the operational version, Diamant B, was produced and used between 1970 and 1972, boosting off from the new space centre in Kourou, French Guiana. In January 1972, development began on the next version, Diamant BP4, which retained the first and third stages of the Diamant B, but swapped the second stage for that of a MSBS ballistic missile. Three Diamant BP4s were launched between February and September 1975, carrying the satellites Starlette, Castor and Pollux, and Aura.
The Diamant programme transformed France as a space nation. The experience it provided enabled France to propose and initiate development of a new more capable and powerful launcher in collaboration with other European countries, thus laying the first ‘precious stone’ of the Ariane programme. In order to dedicate research and resources to the European Ariane project, the Diamant adventure came to a definitive end after 1975.
Diamant is also part of Astrium's history and heritage. On 1 January 1970, SEREB merged with Nord Aviation and Sud Aviation to form Aérospatiale, which in turn nearly two decades later joined forces with Matra to become Aérospatiale-Matra, one of the founding companies of EADS.
- World record for Ariane 5 - largest communications satellite ever built launched into orbit
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Today an Ariane 5G, a 'standard' version of the launcher, successfully launched into orbit the largest communications satellite ever built, Thaicom 4 (IPstar), weighing 6.5 tonnes. "With this successful launch, Ariane 5 has set a world record and once again proved its outstanding performance," said Evert Dudok, President of EADS SPACE Transportation. "We can be proud of this success, which is the result of the great efforts made by all EADS-ST teams and industry partners," said Hugues Laporte-Weywada, Director of Launchers at EADS SPACE Transportation.
EADS SPACE Transportation has extensive expertise, unrivalled in Europe, as prime contractor for large-scale space programmes. It has demonstrated its ability to lead a team of companies with the wide range of skills and expertise required to design and develop complex projects such as Ariane 5. In addition, EADS SPACE Transportation supplies all elements of the launch vehicle, including the stages, equipment bay and flight software, as well as numerous sub-assemblies.
Ariane 5's solid-propellant boosters (EAPs) are manufactured and integrated by EADS SPACE Transportation at the launch site in French Guiana. The EAPs are ignited seven seconds after the main cryogenic stage (EPC) Vulcain engine and burn for about 130 seconds, delivering the main thrust at lift-off of up to 540 tonnes. EADS SPACE Transportation's Les Mureaux facility near Paris produces and integrates the EPCs. After jettison of the EAPs at an altitude of about 65 kilometres, the launcher's sole propulsion for a flight phase of 600 seconds is delivered by the Vulcain engine, providing a thrust of about 110 tonnes, the essential part of the impulse needed for insertion into orbit. The thrust chamber of the Vulcain engine was developed by EADS SPACE Transportation in Ottobrunn near Munich, as well as the upper stage engine Aestus; the necessary engine tests are also carried out in Germany, at Lampoldshausen near Heilbronn.
EADS SPACE Transportation is Europe's centre of competence for the development and construction of Ariane upper stages at its sites in Bremen and Ottobrunn. The upper stage of Ariane 5 is designed to transport a payload to its target orbit following separation from the first stage, after which the upper stage is fully automatic and releases its payload on its way to geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometres. During today's mission, the Thaicom 4 (IPstar) satellite was inserted into transfer orbit at an altitude of 1,896 kilometres.
EADS SPACE Transportation is the European specialist for access to space and manned space activities. It develops and produces Ariane launchers, the Columbus laboratory and the ATV cargo carrier for the International Space Station, atmospheric re-entry vehicles, missile systems for France's deterrent force, propulsion systems and space equipment. EADS SPACE Transportation is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS SPACE, which is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems. In 2004, EADS SPACE had a turnover of €2.6 billion and 11,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2004, EADS generated revenues of €31.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 110,000.
Contact:
Kirsten Leung (Germany) +49-421-539-5326
Dr. Christian Erles (France) +33-139-06-3253
- Read the launch kit
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- Lire le dossier de vol
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- Vega
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- The Vega small launcher
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Astrium is involved in the European small launcher programme Vega, initiated in 1998. Vega’s specified payload capacity is 1,500 kg for a circular orbit of 700 km altitude. The launcher will be marketed by Arianespace and launched from the European Spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana. The Vega configuration consists of three solid-propellant stages, the P80 first stage, the Zefiro 23 second stage and the Zefiro 9 third stage, plus an liquid-propulsion upper module, called AVUM.
Astrium’s main contributions are the guidance and control algorithms, the on-board software, the attitude control system and avionics equipment reused from Ariane 5.
Vega’s first qualification flight is currently scheduled towards the end of 2008.
Some developments of the launcher, especially for enhanced versatility, are already planned as part of the VERTA programme, including multi-payload capability. Astrium has initiated internal studies, with the support of the German national space agency DLR, on longer-term evolutions for increased performance and ‘Europeanisation’ through a new upper stage using more powerful liquid propulsion derived from the Aestus engine or cryogenic propulsion.
- Future Launchers (FLPP)
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- Getting ready for tomorrow!
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Europe is already thinking about what the future of launchers will be from 2015 onwards.
Extension of Ariane 5’s operational capability of has been prepared since 2006 in order to offer Arianespace a launcher fully adapted to the market and its evolution. A decision is expected from the 2008 Ministerial Conference to start development of a new Ariane 5 version including a new-generation cryogenic upper stage which will be more powerful and capable of multiple re-ignitions. The aim is a first flight at the end of 2014.
This new-generation upper stage will be an essential building block for any future launcher that will either succeed Ariane 5 or have to respond to the exploration mission needs which will be one of the most important space conquests of this century. Through ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP2) agreed in 2005, launcher concepts for the 2020–2025 horizon are currently under investigation and the required enabling technologies (propulsion, materials, structures, and technologies for a cryogenic re-ignitable upper stage) are being studied. Demonstrators, such as the intermediate experimental atmospheric re-entry vehicle (IXV), which brought together the former national initiatives, are already included in this programme.
The creation of the company NGL (70% Astrium and 30% Finmeccanica) in 2006 has made a significant contribution towards bringing together on-going national initiatives in preparing for future launchers.
Astrium is ready and able to continue its leadership on the programmes of tomorrow through ESA’s programmes and its own investments.
- Soyuz
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- A solution for every mission
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Astrium has formed innovative partnerships with the Russian space industry to complement the Ariane 5 standard and heavy-lift options, enabling Europe to offer a complete family of launchers.
The company is the main shareholder in Starsem, a Franco–Russian joint company that manages Soyuz marketing worldwide. Starsem, instigated by EADS in 1996, is registered as a French public limited company. Astrium is the largest shareholder in Starsem with a 35% stake; the other shareholders are the Russian space agency Roskosmos (25%), the Samara Space Centre, which developed Sputnik and continues to be a key global player in launcher design (25%), and Arianespace, the international commercial launch leader (15%).
The Soyuz family of vehicles have so far performed more than 1,700 successful launches. The Russian-built Soyuz launcher is designed to boost small- to medium-weight satellites into low and medium Earth orbits, and is also ideal for interplanetary missions. In 1999, Starsem’s Soyuz launcher successfully orbited 24 of the Globalstar constellation of satellites in six launches, and ESA’s four Cluster scientific satellites in 2000. In June 2003, Starsem launched the first European mission to Mars, Mars Express, and performed its first GTO mission with the Israeli communications satellite Amos-2 in December 2004. Three successful launches were undertaken in 2005 including ESA’s Venus Express mission in November and the first in-orbit test element satellite for the Galileo system (GIOVE-A) in December.
Soyuz launches currently take place from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan, central Asia. As of 2010, Soyuz rockets will also be launched from Europe’s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, where they will be operated by Arianespace. Astrium strongly supports this decision – offering a launcher for lighter-weight satellites, complementing Ariane 5 for heavy or dual launches, and providing a valuable back-up option, from the same launch site via the same launch operator will enhance European launch capability. Moreover, Kourou’s location close to the equator, as opposed to Baikonur which is situated at 45° North, facilitates launches into equatorial orbit, where spacecraft benefit from the added impetus of the Earth’s rotation.
- Rockot
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- Eurockot: launch services for small satellites
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Eurockot Launch Services GmbH is the Bremen-based joint venture of Astrium and Khrunichev, holding 51% and 49% respectively. Using the Rockot small launch vehicle (maximum payload capacity, two tonnes) from dedicated satellite preparation, launch and customer facilities at Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, Eurockot provides commercial launch services to operators of low Earth orbit (LEO) scientific, remote-sensing and communication satellites.
Eurockot has performed several missions for commercial and institutional customers in Europe, North America and Asia, among them the successful launch of South Korea's KOMPSAT-2 Earth observation satellite in July 2007, and the European Space Agency’s Earth Explorer satellite GOCE launched in March 2009.
Eurockot serves high inclinations including polar and sun-synchronous orbits and also offers launches for deep space explorations. Eurockot successfully addresses market needs with comprehensive and customer-oriented launch services.
- Ariane 5
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- Placing the heaviest loads in orbit
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Ariane 5 symbolises Europe’s unrestricted, independent access to space. Astrium is the key to this success. Its experience dates back to the beginnings of the European space industry, with the Diamant and early Ariane launchers.
The new-generation Ariane 5 continues the tradition of its famous predecessor, Ariane 4, but features a radically new design. Since 2005, the latest heavy-lift version of Ariane 5 has provided increased Geostationnary Transfer Orbit payload capacity, up to 10 tonnes on dual launches, to meet the evolving demands of both commercial and governmental markets. It incorporates a new cryogenic upper stage carrying over 14 tonnes of propellants, and a strengthened cryogenic main stage, powered by the new Vulcain 2 engine.
Astrium has a dual role on this launcher as:
- Sole prime contractor (since May 2003), in charge of co-ordinating some 50 companies across Europe. This new arrangement means that Astrium delivers to Arianespace, the launch services marketing company, a complete, fully-tested, cost-effective launcher, in line with demanding market conditions.
- Lead manufacturer, responsible for the production of all Ariane 5 stages, the vehicle equipment bay and flight software, along with a number of subassemblies. Astrium teams are on hand in Kourou, French Guiana, to help Arianespace during launch campaigns.
Astrium is now the single point of contact for the European Space Agency (ESA), and prime contractor for future developments on Ariane 5.
- Ariane 4
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- A real success story - technologically, politically and financially
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In 1973 eleven countries, called together by the European Space Agency (ESA), decided to take Europe down its own path in the space field: and so the Ariane programme was born. Six years later in 1979, Ariane 1 was launched from Kourou.
Following development work on variants 1, 2 and 3, Ariane 4 was able to draw on the experience gained from these earlier variants. Its inaugral flight took place in 1988 and over the years, Ariane 4 proved itself to be one of the best launchers in its class, both in terms of reliability and performance. In just 14 years, 116 Ariane 4s were launched from the Kourou spaceport, placing 182 satellites in orbit - altogether around 420 tonnes of sophisticated space tools, used for the most diverse range of applications.
The fruit of collaboration between some 40 companies in 11 European countries, Ariane 4 has proven European industry’s ability to realise a highly technical product, adapted to market demands. Originally designed to place 2-4.2 tonne payloads in geostationary orbit, the six Ariane 4 variants, aided by strap-on boosters, enabled the launch of payloads in excess of 4.9 tonnes on several occasions. Ariane’s advanced performance, particularly its reliability and flexibility as well as its highly cost-effective dual-launch capability, enabled it to gain a nigh-on 60% global market share of all commercial launches.
Replaced by Ariane 5 in 2003, Ariane 4 remains the launcher industry benchmark of the 1990s and a prime example of effectively working together across commercial, institutional and national boundaries.
Astrium has played a key part in this success. As the industrial design authority, it was involved in the development of each of the launcher variants, and manufactured and delivered all the Ariane 4 stages, the solid and liquid strap-on boosters and payload adapters as well as the flight programmes, the vehicle equipment bay as well as the SPELDA dual-launch structures.
- Successful launch of the new Ariane 5 ECA
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- EADS Astrium Selects Arianespace to Launch Skynet 5
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